Best living concepts for elderly homeowners: combining a stated choice experiment with architectural design

In this paper we combine the insights from social sciences and architecture to design best living concepts for a specific target group, elderly homeowners. We perform a stated choice experiment to study residential preferences of this group and translate the results into an architectural design of senior‐friendly housing. This methodological approach is novel to the literature. We derive the willingness‐to‐pay for different residential attributes and show how these attributes can be traded off against each other to create best living concepts. We discuss how these concepts can be translated into customized architectural design while making use of standard architectural elements

Happy Senior Living: 65+ Best Living Concepts

In developed countries, the share of the elderly (65+) is growing quickly. In the Netherlands it might reach 25 to 30% of the population by 2040 (see Figure 1). We design best living concepts for the elderly, based on a research in their residential preferences. Our novel methodology combines insights from social sciences and architecture. A stated choice experiment retrieves the willingness-to-pay of the elderly for a set of relevant attributes of the dwelling, building and location. The attributes with the highest valuation are used as an input for a flexible architectural design. &nbsp

Happy senior living 65+ best living concepts

In developed countries, the share of the elderly (65+) is growing quickly. In the Netherlands it might reach 25 to 30% of the population by 2040 (see Figure 1). We design best living concepts for the elderly, based on a research in their residential preferences. Our novel methodology combines insights from social sciences and architecture. A stated choice experiment retrieves the willingness-to-pay of the elderly for a set of relevant attributes of the dwelling, building and location. The attributes with the highest valuation are used as an input for a flexible architectural design. &nbsp

DASH 02 - The Luxury City Apartment

The second issue of DASH focuses on the emergence of the luxury city apartment. The articles range from historical explorations of luxurious apartments built in Paris and London in the late 19th century and the full-service apartments realized in The Hague in the early 20th century to the emergence of enclaves for the wealthy in Brazil. There is also an article comparing the Dutch market with the market in Berlin and an account of the turbulent history of a luxury apartment complex in the Netherlands. The power of the market and the role of developers is investigated in a discussion with Huub Smeets, CEO of Vesteda residential property developers, while the architect Winka Dubbeldam sheds light on the situation in New York. The projects discussed, including several recent examples in the Netherlands, are documented in detail. Development in housing design seems to have stagnated around a number of broadly approved standard floor plans used in the greater part of recent residential construction, but there is evidence of innovation in the design of more expensive city apartments. This has in one regard been stimulated by the rise of an internationally oriented metropolitan lifestyle (driven in part by an increase in the number of expats), which was until recently extremely rare in the Netherlands, but was also made possible by private developers assuming the leading role in the new-build market. The luxury city apartment provides an answer to the demand for high-quality living in combination with the densification of city centres. The residential layouts, the collective spaces (entrance foyers) and the services and amenities in this luxury sector are subject to different requirements. What does this imply for the building and for the relationship between the building and the surrounding city? &nbsp

A city shaped by diplomacy

Ethiopia is an old country with a long history of political change, both domestically and towards the rest of the world. Internally, Ethiopia’s ever-changing socio-political behavior was manifested by a tradition of relocating its seat of government. Axum, Lalibela, Teguelat, Gondar, Magdala, Ankober, and Mekele are only a few examples of such temporary headquarters, and many other “roving capitals” are excluded. The most recent shift was the foundation of the current capital city Addis Ababa in 1886. In the 131 years since then, this city has evolved from a simple village of hot springs and encampments into a global diplomatic center. The city’s diplomatic relevance has grown especially rapidly since 1950. Today, it hosts continental and global institutions such as the African Union (AU), a number of United Nation institutions (UN-ECA, UNDP, UNESCO) and others, in addition to diplomatic institutions for bilateral relations. Until today, Addis Ababa contains only fragments of the disruption caused by the brief period of Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941, when the occupiers attempted to erase the existing city and build a new colonial capital. This paper looks at the evolution of Addis Ababa through the agency of diplomacy. It focuses on the morphological and architectural manifestations of diplomacy in the city, based on a timeline of five recognizable periods. Using exemplary cases, it illustrates the physical and spatial impact and architectural influences associated with diplomacy and diplomatic institutions. Subsequently, we argue that the emergence of Addis Ababa as a diplomatic center in its first couple of decades anchored it as a lasting political center, while the diplomatic developments that followed and their physical manifestations played a vivid formative role in the city’s urbanization. Within Addis Ababa’s poly-nuclear structure, the diplomatic institutions prevail as frames and points of reference, spread out over the whole city

DASH 07 - The Eco House:

Construction is responsible for about 20 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions and 30 per cent of energy demand; this ranks it alongside the chemical and transport industries among the biggest polluters. Sustainability is therefore one of the most significant issues for designers and architects, as well as a challenging field for innovation and research.DASHgoes in search of the ideal eco house: from solar houses to Superuse, from Cradle-to- Cradle to support-infill systems and precise prefab-technology. DASH The Eco House examines the history and the future of the sustainable home. This includes attention to basic principles (passive solar energy, semi-climate and ventilation) and material-use concepts. Essays by Daniel A. Barber, Machiel van Dorst, Jacques Vink, and Piet Vollaard provide not only a critical analysis of the current state of affairs, but also an inspirational exploration of possibilities for the future. Drop City pioneer Steve Baer looks back on the Construction of hisZome House and Jean-Philippe Vassal talks about his vision on architecture and sustainability. With extensive documentation of trendsetting homes by such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, Ralph Erskine, Frei Otto, Lacaton & Vassal, Carlos Weeber, DAAD Architecten and 2012Architecten. &nbsp

Redactioneel

Forty years after the first oil crisis and the Club of Rome’s controversial report Limits to Growth, environmental awareness and sustainability are starting to become an integral part of construction practice. The new shortages of energy and raw materials precipitated by the rise of new economic superpowers like China are partly responsible. In addition, the United Nations climate conferences and Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth have helped make the public at large aware of the negative repercussions of our way of life. Construction is responsible for about 20 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions and 30 per cent of energy demand; this ranks it alongside the chemical and transport industries among the biggest polluters. Sustainability is therefore one of the most significant issues for designers and architects, as well as a challenging field for innovation and research. Yet simple solutions are not easily available. A wide range of approaches are now being demonstrated in practice, from the idealistic-holistic and politically engaged to the pragmatic and commercial. At times these approaches complement each other; at times they frankly conflict. Take for instance the much-discussed Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy of American architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart. Energy supplies, remarkably enough, are not an issue within Cradle-to- Cradle thinking as long as this energy is generated sustainably and the cycle of material flows are well organized without exhausting natural sources. Superuse, the name given by the 2012Architecten bureau to its approach to material recycling in architecture, is paradoxically at odds with the Cradle-to-Cradle concept. From McDonough and Braungart’s perspective, such an inventive form of recycling begins at the wrong end of the system and Superuse is nothing more than a further degradation of materials in the various cycles of reuse. There are many other conflicting approaches: in counterpoint to Danish architect Bjarke Ingels of BIG, who advocates a new hedonistic architecture that, free of Protestant guilt, exploits the opportunities of reuse and energy management to the utmost, we find the international movements of eco-village and Transition Towns, which propagate new definitions of social responsibility through alternative lifestyles and forms of good governance. In order to demonstrate the various basic principles and possibilities of a sustainable architecture of housing, this issue of DASH is devoted to the eco house. As architectural design is the focus, the discussion primarily concentrates on architectural invention rather than on the application and integration of today’s highly advanced (and often expensive) technological remedies, such as climate-control installations. The house by Carlos Weeber in Curaçao is one of the most evident demonstrations – a comfortably interior climate is achieved without the use of air conditioning, but through principles of cross-ventilation, shade and natural cooling. The organization of the interior climate by dividing the home into zones produces special typologies that are characteristic of the eco house, from the hippie architecture of Earthship and Dome to cosy, middle-class conservatories in the back garden.Veertig jaar na de eerste oliecrisis en het geruchtmakende rapport ‘Grenzen aan de Groei’ van de Club van Rome beginnen milieubewustzijn en duurzaamheid een integraal onderdeel van de bouwpraktijk uit te maken. De nieuwe schaarste aan energie en grondstoffen ontstaan door de opkomst van nieuwe economische grootmachten als China is daar mede debet aan. Bovendien hielpen de klimaatconferenties van de VN en de film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ van Al Gore het grote publiek bewust te maken van de negatieve gevolgen van onze leefwijze. De bouw is verantwoordelijk voor zo’n 20 procent van de totale kooldioxide-uitstoot en 30 procent van de energievraag en behoort samen met de sectoren van de chemie en het transport tot de grootste vervuilers. Duurzaamheid behoort daarmee tot de belangrijkste vraagstukken voor ontwerpers en architecten en is een uitdagend veld voor vernieuwing en onderzoek. Nochtans zijn eenduidige oplossingen niet zomaar voorhanden. De praktijk laat inmiddels een brede waaier aan benaderingen zien, van idealistisch-holistisch en politiek geëngageerd tot pragmatisch en commercieel. Soms vullen deze benaderingen elkaar aan, soms zijn ze ronduit tegenstrijdig. Neem bijvoorbeeld de veelbesproken Cradle to Cradle filosofie van de Amerikaanse architect William McDonough en de Duitse chemicus Michael Braungart. Energievoorziening is opvallend genoeg geen issue binnen het Cradle to Cradle denken zolang die energie maar duurzaam wordt opgewekt en de cycli van materiaalstromen maar goed georganiseerd zijn zonder de natuurlijke bronnen uit te putten. Superuse, de geuzennaam die het bureau 2012Architecten aan zijn benadering van materiaalrecyclage in de architectuur heeft gegeven, staat paradoxalerwijs haaks op het concept van Cradle to Cradle. Vanuit het perspectief van McDonough en Braungart begint een dergelijke inventieve vorm van recycleren aan de verkeerde kant van het systeem en is Superuse niet meer dan een verder degraderen van materialen in de verschillende cycli van hergebruik. Zo zijn er nog vele andere tegengestelde benaderingen te noteren: tegenover de Deense architect Bjarke Ingels van BIG, die pleit voor een nieuwe hedonistische architectuur die vrij van een protestants schuldgevoel de kansen van hergebruik en nieuw energiemanagement maximaal uitbuit, staan de internationale bewegingen van ecodorpen en Transition Towns die nieuwe definities van sociale verantwoordelijkheid propageren met alternatieve leefstijlen en vormen van maatschappelijk beheer. Om de verschillende basisprincipes en mogelijkheden van een duurzame architectuur van het wonen te demonstreren is deze uitgave van DASH gewijd aan het ecohuis. Omdat het architectonisch ontwerp centraal staat, is een focus op architectonische inventie het eerste uitgangspunt, en niet de toepassing en integratie van de tegenwoordig zo geavanceerde (en vaak dure) technologische hulpmiddelen als klimaatinstallaties. Het huis van Carlos Weeber op Curaçao is hiervan een van de meest evidente demonstraties – zonder gebruik van airconditioning, maar met principes van dwarsventilatie, zonwering en natuurlijke koeling wordt een aangenaam binnenklimaat gerealiseerd. De organisatie van het binnenklimaat door middel van zonering van de woning leidt tot speciale typologieën die karakteristiek zijn voor het ecohuis, van de hippie-architectuur van Earthship en Dome tot en met knusse, burgerlijke serres in de achtertuin

Best living concepts for elderly homeowners: combining a stated choice experiment with architectural design

In this paper we combine the insights from social sciences and architecture to design best living concepts for a specific target group, elderly homeowners. We perform a stated choice experiment to study residential preferences of this group and translate the results into an architectural design of senior-friendly housing. This methodological approach is novel to the literature. We derive the willingness-to-pay for different residential attributes and show how these attributes can be traded off against each other to create best living concepts. We discuss how these living concepts can be translated into customized architectural design while making use of standard architectural elements

Cast in Concrete: Growth and Change in Jaap Bakema's Oeuvre

Many of Jaap Bakema’s proposals centred on the idea of designing structures that residents could fill in or change themselves. Though partly inspired by the picturesque city of Split, he could not always convince residents

The space of diplomacy

This thematic section of ABE features contributions on the role and meanings of embassies and other structures designed for diplomacy, in urban fabrics situated east and south of the Mediterranean. Albeit inherently representative objects, embassies are seldom considered as architectural signifiers, or as parts of the cultural landscape of a city. Starting from Addis Abeba and moving on to Ankara, Kabul and Beijing, the four papers of the section show that while the architecture of diplomacy displaces a fragment of the nation beyond its territorial borders, this movement is never limited to the transfer of technologies and architectural styles. The making of diplomatic landmarks can be assessed as a dialogic process of space production, entailing negotiation and domestication in the foreign context, appropriation and reworking of local symbolic and material resources, interaction with the surrounding social and physical landscape